1,721,000 research outputs found
Mobile apps against food waste: Are consumers willing to use them? A survey research on Italian consumers
Full text linkThis paper is aimed at analyzing the consumers’ willingness to use mobile apps that claim to contribute to mitigating the food waste problem. We study the extent to which such willingness is influenced by three factors related to the consumers’ willingness to use mobile apps in general (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived risks) and three factors related to the consumer behavior against food waste (food neophobia, moral attitude, and knowledge about food conservation). A survey was conducted on 283 Italian consumers. Results show that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use positively affect the willingness to use mobile apps against food waste, while perceived risks by potential users negatively impact such willingness. However, none of the three consumer-related factors has been proved to be significant. The results of this paper offer managerial implications to developers, related to how to advertise the app and how to improve the app functionality, in order to enhance the consumers’ willingness to us
To cooperate, or not to cooperate, that is the question. Strategic analysis for the implementation of industrial symbiosis
Full text linkThe lack of adequate support in strategic decision-making hampers the widespread of industrial symbiosis (IS). Although various business models for IS are available, existing literature focuses solely on cooperation between waste producers and waste users to replace primary inputs with waste. This paper proposes a strategic analysis for waste producers introducing IS, comparing the traditional cooperative approach with a competitive new product development strategy. Using a game-theoretical model, a third hybrid strategy is defined. The paper examines the impact of market characteristics, investment requirements, IS costs, and primary input purchase costs on the strategic choices of waste producers, providing insights for managers and decision-makers. Results suggest that the characteristics of the market where to enter significantly affect the final strategic behavior. Specifically, the main strategic discriminating factors are the market size, the consumers’ willingness to pay, and the investment extent
Ecosystem indicators for measuring industrial symbiosis
Full text linkIndustrial symbiosis (IS) is a collaborative approach among firms involving physical exchanges of materials, energy, and wastes, which creates economic advantages for firms and environmental benefits for the society. In this paper, we adopt an ecosystem approach to conceptualize the network of firms involved in IS relationships (ISN), in terms of organisms (firms), functions (waste exchange), and services (environmental benefits), and provide new insight on how to assess and compute IS performance indicators. In particular, we designed five classes of indicators aimed at assessing 1) the impact of services provided by ISNs on the environment, 2) the performance of the ISN services, 3) how the single functions contribute to ISN services, 4) the performance of the ISN functions, and 5) how the single firms contribute to ISN functions. A numerical example is also discussed showing how to compute them and the information they provide. The proposed indicators are useful to develop proper strategies to increase the efficiency of the system in exploiting the IS synergies, to improve the symbiotic exchanges carried out in ISNs, and to identify firms contributing most to IS benefits. Hence, they may assist managers of ISNs and policymakers in decision-making aspects, an urgent need of the literature
Features of the Higher Education for the Circular Economy: The Case of Italy
Full text linkThe higher education system plays a critical role in supporting the transition towards a circular economy (CE). It helps create business leaders and policymakers having appropriate skills, competences, and consciousness referring to the CE challenges. Nevertheless, few studies have specifically investigated how the higher education system is addressing the CE, how the current academic offering is integrating the CE principles, and which skills and competences are currently provided. This paper overcomes these limitations by investigating the current offering of the higher education for the CE in Italy. We analyze the academic programs, courses, and modules at different levels of 49 Italian universities and, by means of a detailed classification of the learning outcomes, provide a clear picture of the knowledge, skills, and competences offered by the CE education. We finally discuss implications of our findings concerning the development of CE education and CE jobs
Technical efficiency measures of industrial symbiosis networks using enterprise input-output analysis
No full textLearning strategic cooperative behavior in industrial symbiosis: A game-theoretic approach integrated with agent-based simulation
No full textThis paper investigates the negotiation phase of industrial symbiosis relationships, where companies exchanging wastes for inputs need to develop strategies on how to share the additional costs to operate the industrial symbiosis business. The business behavior is approached as a “coopetition” problem where companies need to cooperate to reduce waste discharge costs and traditional input purchase costs and dive into competition to pay a minimum share of additional costs (i.e., waste treatment, waste transportation, and transaction costs) of operating industrial symbiosis. A noncooperative game-theoretical model for sharing the additional costs is proposed that highlights the two strategies that companies can adopt aimed at sharing costs: a fair strategy and an opportunistic strategy. Then, an agent-based model is used to simulate the game iterated over time and investigate how the players can adapt their strategies according to their past experience. Simulation results show that players learn that playing the fair strategy is beneficial in the long period, despite in the short period they can gain more benefit by playing the opportunistic strategy. Findings of the paper are critically important to reduce the business and managerial barriers against the formation of industrial symbiosis networks and to stimulate innovative thinking of company managers to foster the development of the circular economy. The paper proposes theoretical, managerial, and policy implications, which are discussed in detail in a comparative manner between linear and circular economy
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